During most of my childhood in the 1950’s, businesses rewarded shoppers with “green stamps.” Pictured above, they came in long strips depending on the amount of your purchase. They had a glue backing and were licked and pasted into books. My mother couldn’t stand pasting them in the books, so they piled up. When we complained about boredom (a perilous complaint in our house!) we would be offered the task of licking the green stamps and putting them in their books.
With four kids we did a lot of business with the local pharmacy which was the source of many stamps. The grocery store gave them out as did the gas station. Most businesses proudly displayed the “we give green stamps” sign hoping it would draw you in. What exactly was the appeal that would convince anyone to save and then lick hundreds of these little stamps?
The reward came in what you could “buy” with filled books of stamps. As usual, my brother and I aimed big when we looked at the catalog. For a billion(or so it seemed) stamps, we could each get new bicycles. Or maybe some extravagant toy set. Unfortunately, as soon as we had filled the books, my mother took a keen interest in what she could get in exchange. So we ended up with picnic jugs, a coffee pot and a toaster. Oh well. At least they were free (if you ignored the child labor!)
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Hi Elizabeth, I remember my mother collecting Green Stamps. When I quit college in the mid-seventies, I moved to Santa Barbara and ended up working at the local S&H Green Stamp warehouse for a short time. It didn’t pay too well so I moved on to busting tires at a local tire store. It’s hard to survive in Santa Barbara on S&H wages. I don’t think I have to tell you, that was a lackluster year for me. But we’ve talked about those many nowhere jobs before, haven’t we?
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I imagine that the tires weren’t a lot easier than the Green Stamp warehouse. They both sound obnoxious. Good thing we found better work later in our lives!
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I sure remember those. We would help mama put them in the books. We also had Yellow Stamps in our area also. The fun came when we would go to the stamp store and she would pick out something we needed.
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I remember the store. So does Des if you read his comment on this same post!
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Lovely memories😄
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lol! I don’t like those stamps either. It’s not the green ones, but similar. It’s a game or reward for your purchases. The more money you spend the more stamps. You match them to your board and you can win prizes. I usually decline. It’s too much work for me 😊
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I did win $500 once with that stamp game at the grocery store. I was so shocked because I didn’t even realize it. The clerk had to show me.
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